Majestic Downfall – Waters of Fate (Review)

This is the fifth album from Majestic Downfall, a Mexican death/doom band.

Having enjoyed very much Majestic Downfall’s 2014 split with The Slow Death, a new album of 52-minute duration is well-received.

If you haven’t encountered this band before, then you’re in for a treat, albeit a dark, negatively-charged one. Majestic Downfall play slow, anguished doom metal, full of crushing riffs and mournful melodies. It’s weighty and dense, filled to the brim with feeling and emotive power.

The songs are constructed from materials that have been found in dark, forgotten places, and forged into something sorrowful and strong. Multifaceted and layered, this is a collection of lengthy songs to explore at length, searching the depths for hidden treasure again and again, only to come up empty and lost each time, until you inevitably cannot return from these deeps any more.

It’s not all delivered at a crawl though, as the band do rouse themselves from their misery to delve more into the death metal side of the death/doom equation when necessary. These parts are less common, of course, than the ever-present doom, but are still well-received and paced and located at appropriate junctures in the music.

The album has a very satisfying production, with all aspects of the performances coming across as clean and crisp, without losing a certain underground earthy rawness. Waters of Fate has the entire package worked out, and hopefully should appeal to any doom metal fan.